New Poll: Kennedy Favorability Drops, Cuomo Surges Ahead

Earlier this week a Quinnipiac poll showed voters in New York State leaning away from Caroline Kennedy for Senator, prefering state attorney general Andrew Cuomo by a margin of 31 percent to 24 percent. Now a Marist poll puts the spread at 39 percent to 31 percent. Marist December poll showed them tied at 25 percent. Ominously, in Kennedy's power base of New York City, Marist records a five-point Cuomo lead. And Kennedy's favorability rating has plummeted from 62 percent to 46 percent since December, while Cuomo's has shifted from 64 to 60 percent.

Governor Paterson has downplayed polls showing the Kennedy drop, but he may be interested to learn that Marist found a ten-point drop in his own popularity since last month, from 54 to 44 percent.